[SatNews] Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force for purchase and sustainment of its embedded global positioning/inertial navigation systems (EGI).

Northrop Grumman's LN-260 embedded global positioning/inertial navigation system is available under an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity U.S. Air Force contract with a potential value of up to $200 million.

Under an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a potential value of up to $200 million, Northrop Grumman's suite of fiber-optic gyro-based navigation systems are available for the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy as well as international customers. Northrop Grumman will also provide platform integration, modernization, flight test and technical support, training, depot repair and spares for its EGI. The contract provides for ordering of equipment and/or services through December 2018. Foreign military sales, including a first order in support of EGI sales to Iraq and Thailand, are provided for under the contract.

Northrop Grumman offers a variety of embedded GPS/inertial navigation systems to meet unique customer needs worldwide. Products such as the LN-251 and LN-260 feature a fully integrated, tightly coupled GPS inertial design for superior accuracy, in addition to open, modular architecture for greater adaptability. The LN-251 is the smallest, lightest navigation-grade EGI in its class.

Additionally, Northrop Grumman Corporation and the U.S. Navy successfully flew the second MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter for the first time.

Conducted at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, California, the flight will allow the team to ramp up testing efforts to prepare the system for operations.Current tests are focused on validating the flight capabilities of the MQ-8C before ship-based flights take place this summer.

"The addition of the second MQ-8C means we can begin testing on more components and equipment needed to operate the system as an intelligence-gathering platform," said George Vardoulakis, vice president for medium range tactical systems at Northrop Grumman. "This includes installing and conducting tests on the full sensor suite. Flight testing has been very successful since the system's first flight on October 31st. We've completed 41 flights totaling 66 hours. This accomplishment points back to the maturity of the MQ-8C's autonomous control systems that allow the aircraft to operate as an unmanned system."

Fire Scout uses on-board sensors to capture full-motion video, identify targets and then distribute the information in real time to various users. This allows ship-based commanders to maintain awareness of a specified area or keep an eye on a target of interest for long periods of time.